Ok so this is going to be a bit of a long winded post; and I'm replying to a lot of people's posts and integrating their points into mine.
Making friends on PC is always a very daunting thing to the newcomer or even the oldbie coming back. I know this from personal experience and I do understand your fears significantly; I've been a member of PC for ten long years now and I have to say nothing's changed about how the place really is. When you attack it from the outside looking in; it's really intimidating, there's groups within groups and it generally looks pretty intimidating as you realize there are whole cliques and groups that are very tightly knit and sometimes difficult to break into properly. Don't worry about them until way later, newcomers don't often get drafted by these sets of people and they're not really trying to be unfriendly; they're just comfortable with where they are.
I remember having the same issue as you when I first joined and even quite a while ago (a month ago, actually) when I returned from my hiatus, here.
Maybe my experiences differ from yours, but I feel taking initiative for yourself and making yourself "known" on PC is the way to do it. I can't really word it any better than what Chase (Castform) already did; just post around, reply to people! I will be honest and say that most people tend to shy away from replying to VMs from people they don't know unless you share some sort of common interest with them, in which they will be more open to discussing things with you. I can be wrong but that's the general feeling that I get from most of the populace. Of course, there will always be exceptions, but always, always start by creating a positive first impression and just being that warm, friendly face that posts around and has fun! PC is a super easy place to get along with people, so you definitely won't have a problem with that. :3
Taking initiative is always a key part of trying; though I will say it can be difficult to do. Post around; send VMs and generally chatter around with people. It'll do just fine if you need something. Most people aren't cold, and appreciate the effort, even if they don't immediately warm up to you. I know this because I'm that way sometimes and can be a little hard on the newbies who come out of the blue. This isn't because I'm cranky old member; it's just that I prefer to know someone before they VM me, because I don't really have much to say otherwise.
I'm under the impression that it's all about attitude and presence. If you have a negative attitude about things, people aren't really going to want to talk to you. If you're having trouble making friends, just like the people above me have stated, find like minded individuals and talk about a common interest (Argonians are clearly the best race, by the way). I wouldn't say I have a lot of friends here, as I only regularly talk to a small handful of people, but they're people I share a lot of interests with, and that really helps when attempting to hold a conversation.
Also, I wouldn't say supporters are viewed higher than "normal" members. I'm not a supporter, and if they were favored, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be a part of higher staff.
Attitude counts for certain. It's this attribute that I most pay attention to in anyone. If you've got a poor attitude; you'll get kicked off to the side pretty quick. I know this for a certain fact; heck I even struggle with this particular component. People get some wrong impressions about my attitude from the past at times and it can get really frustrating really quickly, I'm not unfriendly intentionally to anyone; but I do kind of dislike certain types of people who are generally insufferable to most of us anyways. This is why you don't see me in The Welcome Lounge that often at all; I'm aware of my lack of patience and would rather work on improving it among the ranks of members who know what they're doing than to let myself blow my stack too often at a newbie who meant no harm
Personally whenever I want to meet new friends, I try to strike newcomers with a conversation over on The Welcome Lounge, which is pretty successful most of the time, and is something I'd recommend, like The Welcome Lounge, as well as The Treehouse board here is a great place to meet new friends, but all in all, I'd say just be yourself, and try breaking down that shell!
I'm sure you're a great guy; you'll make good friends soon~! :3
This certainly works if you've got patience or are new yourself; I personally prefer the Treehouse as it tends to attract a healthy mix of new enough and older members; and a lot of the threads do have good questions to help you get to know people, so that can always be fun when you can find like minded friends through the Treehouse or Playground.
What I've experienced so far: more liked people tend to already have a lot of friends, so they are more likely to not respond, or only in a scarce manner (or they might just be oblivious to anything outside of their already established friendships). On the other hand, there are a ton of people who don't get noticed. Randomly writing a VM to some of these people can result into interesting outcomes; it is a way to build up friendships, but even if that's not happening, there's a high chance that they at least appreciated you writing a VM to them.
This is definitely the case; sometimes people can be so popular that you can't get them to reply; and it's nothing personal! They're just so
well known that they have to pick and choose who they befriend because there's too many people coming at them. I do this; being a long time member and an old one does definitely garner me some ah..."Senpai" points for some newcomers, and this isn't always a relationship I really want to foster all the time. Sometimes its easy to forget one's friendlier self and find them shallow and be unwilling to talk to them. But it's nothing personal; just that sometimes people get waves and waves of potentials and they don't always happen to be seeking to make close friends. That doesn't mean they won't be friendly or think of you if you really tried though! I've made no small number of friends by making first contact and then having them come back way later when they realize how interesting of a person I really am.
I got most of my PC friends from chatting in The Count To Infinity or by meeting likemindes people in the Roleplay Theater. It's all about finding some part of this forum where you can stick around and find things you have in common :3
TCTI is a very well known watering hole and is definitely a fun place to hang around and find friends or just chat with the ones you have. :3
I've made few friends through the forums themselves. I've always made mine through talking on the Battle Server. It's a great place to talk and everyone there is quite nice- bar Dark Noobzelf :p- If you want to check it out it's right
here. I'll be there to say hi :)
Personally I like the battle server myself. It's quirky to the max; but once you get used to it the people are generally pretty nice and friendly. It's also nice that this is actually more realtime and less asynchronous than the forums are which cuts down on the anxieties of first contacts and stuff; especially when you realize how nice and friendly and fun most people really are. You actually get to
know people here. And sometimes you end up knowing or learning too much ;)
u wot
'Just posting' has been my thing for eight years and nothing's come of it.
Definitely the case. Just posting is not going to work unless you're posting an incredible amount. Like proportions not unlike some of the top posters on PC. And not all of us are capable of that sort of incredible posting rate; I do well enough to keep my rate above 1 Post Per Day; which is plenty for me. It's not that I don't participate; It's just that I have a life and balancing that with PC as well as the many other wonderful places I like to visit on the internet can be difficult! This has worked against me as people view me as lurking or less active or participatory; but I don't really care. I know myself and I know that I share the same passion for PC as even it's top staff members or top ten posters in general do!
It's less about post count and more about how you show that passion; and post count is only one of many many ways you can show activity.
![[PokeCommunity.com] Is it impossible to find friends on PC?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/00/BIC_logo.svg/200px-BIC_logo.svg.png "[PokeCommunity.com] Is it impossible to find friends on PC?"){kind=logo}
